College Sports In 2026: Kevin Willard Had Admitted He's Not Recruiting Any High School Kids To Villanova, Wants His Guys To Stay For A 5th Year

On one hand, I don't blame Kevin Willard at all. Why go out and recruit high school kids when you can ideally run back the same team? Wouldn't you rather have a guy who has been in college forever, used to the game, knows the system and don't have to waste time recruiting that way? On the other hand, I hate this all. I hate that every day it seems like college sports keeps getting dumber. 

I'll say this. This is where mid-majors can step in and get talent they never had a chance at before. If more power schools are going to take this route and then the elite tier high school recruits, that leaves more guys that can go to the A-10 or MVC or something along those lines. Does that help? Who the hell knows? I've given up trying to figure out college sports in 2026. 

I don't know if I'm just old or what. I don't even care about NIL. I miss knowing what guys were on your team. I miss when recruiting announcements meant something and you'd track if your team was favored. I miss when conferences made sense and had real geographical rivalries. I miss a 64-team tournament already. Again, I don't blame Willard for this. It's the way life is in college sports right now. There's no more growth in college sports. Everyone has to win-now. You can't make the Music City Bowl and have that matter. You can't fight for an NCAA Tournament bid and say next year all these guys are juniors and we'll have a shot. Instead it's recruiting your own guys, extra years, lawsuits and everything is somewhat depressing.

That said, I can't wait for the season. Of course we're going to watch. Doesn't mean the situation of it all sucks.